The family of Mollie Tibbetts says the have forever lost their ‘sense of normalcy,’ since the Iowa college student was found dead following her disappearance a month ago.
Mollie’s family has spoken out for the first time since Cristhian Bahena Rivera, a 24-year-old Mexican immigrant, was accused of killing her. The Iowa college student’s body was found Tuesday in a cornfield near her hometown of Brooklyn, Iowa.
On Wednesday night, her brother Jake spoke during a vigil at the University of Iowa, where she the 20-year-old would have started her sophomore year.
‘From our family from our friends from the community of Brooklyn (Iowa), we thank you from the bottom of our heart,” Jake said at the vigil.
She was incredible and we’re gonna miss her dearly. We’re never gonna have that sense of normalcy again.’
Mollie’s family says they have forever lost their sense of normalcy since they learned of her death (shown here mother Laura Calderwood center in blue and brother Jake in blue to the left along with other family members on Tuesday during a press conference about her death)
Mollie pictured with her father Rob Tibbetts, and with her mother and two brothers. The family says they are heartbroken by their loss and thanked everyone from around the world for the support they have received
Cristhian Rivera, 24, is accused of killing schoolgirl Mollie Tibbetts while working as a farmhand at Yarrabee Farms, in Iowa, on July 18
Jake also touched upon his sister’s legacy, saying ‘The stories you’ve all heard about Mollie over the last month, they’re incredible,’ he said.
‘To be honest, what made her so special was she was just like anyone standing here — she loved to run, she loved Harry Potter, she loved the Hawks, she loved her family, she loved her friends.’
‘What made her special is she was so outgoing, so loving, so passionate,’ he said.
‘She wasn’t a silent person in the literal sense in that when she talked, everyone in the room heard her, and also about things she cared about, things she was passionate about. She wouldn’t stay silent if she felt something was wrong, and that’s what’s so great about her.’
Tibbetts’ family also issued a statement, saying ‘our hearts are broken.’
‘We know that many of you will join us as we continue to carry Mollie in our hearts forever.”
Mollie’s extended family, including her aunt Billie Joe Calderwood and her cousin Samantha Lucas have hit back against her death being used as a political platform for immigration reform as it has been discovered that Rivera is an illegal migrant who used a fake ID to pass background checks, according to his employer.
Rivera was working at Yarrabee Farms in Iowa when he allegedly followed Tibbetts in his car before killing her when she threatened to call police.
Dane Lang, co-owner of the farm, previously said that Rivera had worked there for four years and passed all background checks, despite police saying he had been in the US illegally the entire time.
Now Lang has revealed that Rivera used a fake ID and social security number to cheat the Social Security Administration verification system, which the farm used.
During a vigil for her sister on Wednesday night, Jake said Mollie was special, outgoing and loving. He said his family will never know normalcy again (pictured right after speaking)
Mollie Tibbetts’ brother Jake comforted fellow mourners during a candle-light vigil at Iowa University where his sister would have been a sophomore this year
Rivera allegedly used a fake identification to gain his work visa in the US and was for several years before he was arrested for Mollie’s murder this week
Dane Lang, co-owner of the farm, has revealed that Rivera used a fake ID to pass background checks and that his colleagues knew him by another name
‘What we learned within the last 24 hours is that our employee was not who he said he was,’ Lang told the New York Post.
Employees did not know him as Rivera because he used a different name at work, Fox News reported.
Police also revealed that the dark-colored Chevy Malibu Rivera was seen driving in CCTV footage on the night Tibbetts vanished was also not registered in his name.
Investigators did not reveal the false identity which Rivera used.
Lang previously said Rivera had been checked using the the federal E-Verify program, though later said that had been a mistake.
Authorities insist that Rivera has been in the US illegally for between four and seven years, though his lawyers say otherwise.
During his first court appearance on Wednesday, lawyer Allan Richards insisted Rivera was in the country legally and ‘has the legal documents’ to prove it, though he did not produce any of those documents.
Richards also revealed that Rivera first came to America as a minor, has held a job since then and has no prior criminal record.
His client remained largely silent throughout the bail hearing, answering ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to questions which were read to him through an interpreter.
A judge ordered Rivera to be held in lieu of a $5million bond.
Several family members of Mollie have been outspoken in their calls for her death not to be used as a political pawn
Mollie’s cousin, Samantha Lucas, attacked the conservative right for ‘generaliz(ing) a whole population based on some bad individuals.’ She attacked conservative commentator Candace Owens telling her to ‘stop being a f***ing snake’
Rivera’s three-year-old daughter was in the public gallery along with her 25-year-old mother
One of his relatives cried as she watched him be led away by deputies at the end of the hearing
Rivera was caught after police traced his vehicle which had been filmed on surveillance cameras following Mollie as she jogged in Brooklyn, Iowa, on July 18.
He attacked her when she refused to talk to him and threatened to call the police.
Prosecutors argued for his bond to be increased for the safety of the community.
‘We think it is appropriate given the severity of the charge, what his immigration status as it’s been described and the fact that what he is accused of is obviously a very heinous crime the safety of the community should be at the forefront of the court’s mind,’ Assistant Attorney General Scott Brown said.
Judge Johnson agreed with the prosecution at every turn.
She allowed the media to remain in the room and refused Rivera’s attorney’s request to make the hearing private.
In asking that bail be set at a ‘reasonable’ amount, Rivera’s attorney said: ‘Cristhian is a young man.
‘He’s been working for a number of years for a respectable person in this community, he has no prior history, he sits here presumed evidence and so far no evidence has been submitted.
‘When he came to this country as a minor, he had the mental capacity of an eighth grader.’
After the hearing, Yarrabee Farms, where he had worked, held a press conference to say they could no longer be sure, as they once had been, that he in fact was in the country legally.
While Rivera passed their E-verification check with the information he gave them, the company now says he provided a different name. The next time he will return to court is on August 31 at 2pm.